No Choice but This
by wynnebat
Summary: Louis Weasley comes out of the closet.


**Summary:** Louis Weasley comes out of the closet.

Written for the Coming Out of the Closet Competition on the HPFC forums.

**No Choice but This**

1

Louis knew he needed to tell his family the truth, and that he needed to do it soon. He was sick of the lies, the excuses, the boring dates. He finally decided to reveal the secret to his direct family during one of their Saturday dinners (his parents could deal with the extended family). Except he ended up putting it off: first there was Christmas, and he couldn't tell them at Christmas because it was a time for celebration, then there was New Year's, and it was bad luck to reveal secrets at the end of the year (and he was a bit drunk by the time he remembered his decision, but sober enough to know he needed a clear head), then there was Dominique's birthday, and he couldn't ruin her big day, then there was an empty block of time waiting for him to ruin his parents' dreams. That was a horrible phrase, he thought, but it was probably true.

On the second Saturday following Dominique's birthday, Louis brought his mother a bouquet of assorted flowers to soften the blow. They looked beautiful in the middle of the dining room table and took the double duty of blocking Louis' view of his father. When they finished eating, he decided to take the higher path and moved the flowers to a stool in the corner. He couldn't chicken out, not for this.

Louis cleared his throat. Everyone—Maman, Papa, Victoire, Dominique—looked at him, and he tried not to feel like the world was crushing down on him. He refused to be dramatic about this.

"I have something to tell you..." he began, thinking that coming out of the closet was such a cliché.

2

Louis should have been born a girl, and maybe that was what caused his sexuality problems in the first place. He was an eighth Veela, and his blood was diluted just enough for him to have been born male, but it still shouldn't have been possible for him to have a y chromosome instead of a double x. He had a speck of the infamous Veela allure, not uncontrollable and wild like a true Veela's, but subtle enough to charm a person if Louis was in a bind.

He was told that when he was a child, all his French relatives checked for themselves that he was a boy. Twice. And their speculation didn't stop there; he _was_ male, but his relatives never stopped gossiping about his prettyness and how he'll soon grow into his feminine wiles.

He was almost thirty now, and his relatives have long since stopped waiting for him to announce that he was female inside, or some other such rubbish. He wasn't angry, not anymore. He also hasn't seen any of them in three years.

3

"It's hard for me to say this—" his hands were shaking under the table and Merlin if his voice shook he would hand in his gym card "—but I'm not interested in women." He looked at his mother, who, bless her, didn't look very shocked. "It would be great if you could stop pushing me to date the daughters of your friends." Or my female cousins, he thought with a gulp.

And awkward silence didn't form. Louis almost regretted it.

"Pay up," Victoire said with a grin, stretching her hand to Dominique. Dominique scowled, searched her robe pockets, and dropped a Sickle into Victoire's hand.

Dominique glared at Louis and looked longingly at her wine glass. Louis hoped she didn't mean to throw it at him. "Why couldn't you have been straight?" She sighed and threw a Sickle to him, too. "Probability says you would've likely been straight."

There was never a good time to discover one's sisters bet on one's sexuality. Louis palmed his forehead. "I'm just not, damn your probability." Then a thought came and he looked at Victoire, horrified. "When did you make this bet?"

"When you were ten." She was smug. Louis wondered if his parents would forgive him if he cursed her, but his mother gave a short shake of her head.

"Is this why you tried to make me play with dolls?"

Victoire just smirked.

"Right, fine, now that dinner's over, I'm just going to—"

"Sit down, Louis," his father ordered, and Louis complied, not looking at him. He waited for Bill to say something, but his mother spoke instead.

"I have been worried since you are very pretty that 'ou like ze boys, oui."

"It doesn't work like that, Maman."

Fleur waved his retort away. "Eeet ez well, Louis. I could not find a good French homme for the girls…" She gave them each a glare. Dominique lifted up a brow, Victoire looked away. "But I will find you a nice French husband, Louis."

"What? No, Maman! I'm not gay!"

This time, an awkward silence did form.

"What are you trying to tell us?" Bill asked. His voice was gentle.

4

Even if he wanted to blame his problems with women on his relatives, he couldn't blame his sexuality on them. He couldn't blame anyone, to be honest. For a long time, he hadn't even realized he had sexuality problems in the first place. Louis hadn't realized there was something wrong with him until his seventh year at Hogwarts when he realized dating wasn't supposed to be boring.

"And the he did that thing with his tongue, you know— Merlin, it was amazing. Mate, are you listening?" Jacob Hornby, Louis' best friend, asked. He was laying on Louis' bed while Louis was at his desk, working on an essay, and he poked Louis with his wand. "I'm talking about the greatest moment of my life here."

"Getting a blowjob from Nickelson was the best moment of your life?" Louis asked, snorting.

Hornby sat up. "Yes, it was. What about you and Candice?"

Louis shrugged. "It was pretty awkward."

"Sorry, mate. Did she use teeth?"

"No, it wasn't that." He waited, but Hornby didn't take the bait. Louis wasn't sure if he wanted him to. "Was it fun?"

"Course it was."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah. What's brought this on?"

Louis picked at his feather quill. "I think I'm going to break up with her. I'm not— I'm not interested in girls."

Hornby patted his back. "Welcome to the dark side, my friend."

Except, Louis later realized he wasn't interested in guys, either. He wasn't interested in sex, or in kissing, or in romantic gestures. He was happy with his job and his friends. He wasn't interested in finding a husband or wife.

5

"... I mean, I'm just not...interested. In anyone. Okay? And I'm not going to be. That's why I'd very much appreciate if you stopped setting me up with Victoire and Dominique's entire social circle."

Victoire blew a ring of smoke into Louis's face. "That's fine. I always knew you were weird."

"I'm going to murder you later," he muttered.

Fleur swished her glass of wine. "Louis, you have ze sexual problem? Your grandmozzer—not Molly—might have a cure for zat."

"No, Maman, I don't need a cure. I just need you to accept this."

"Are you all right, Louis?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm fine."

"Then we'll just have to get used to it," Dominique chimed in.

6

Bill and Fleur Weasley were not going to have any grandchildren. At twenty-six, Louis was the baby of the family, even though he was an esteemed Healer at St. Gerome's. He was also asexual and not interested in children.

Victoire was thirty-four and twice divorced, no children. He would say "no children, yet," but she would make a horrible mother and she knew it. She had enough problems of her own to deal with kids.

Dominique was twenty-nine and married to her job. She worked with Charlie, and loved her dragonets too much to have children of her own.

Louis was so damn glad his parents accepted them.

7

Later, his father pulled Louis aside.

"This isn't because of your uncle," he confirmed grimly. His lips were set in a line.

"No." It was the truth. Not the whole truth—Uncle Charlie's example made him decide he didn't want his parents knowingly oblivious until the bitter end—but enough to calm his father's fears. Were Uncle Charlie to have influenced Louis's sexual preference in a greater way, Bill would be heartbroken.

Bill clasped Louis' shoulder and nodded. "I still care for you."

"As much as you care for the Harpies' chances this season? Because they're going to get slaughtered!" Louis joked.

"They're going to win the World Cup, you mean," Bill said, and they both laughed and headed back to the kitchen. Louis finally breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was fine.


End file.
